Dilip Singh Bista, the man that Kanchanpur police claim to have raped and murdered 13-year-old Nirmala Panta, was flown back to Mahendranagar on Friday evening, following his medical examinations in Kathmandu.

Bista spent 10 days in Kathmandu undergoing medical examinations at TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj and Patan Hospital in Lalitpur.

“Bista was taken to Kathmandu so that medical experts could examine his mental state as well as his sex drive,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Krishnaraj Ojha of Kanchanpur District Police Office. “His medical report will be presented to the District Court on Sunday.”

Kanchanpur police had presented 41-year-old Bista before the media on August 20 as the main suspect behind Nirmala’s death.

He was flown to Kathmandu on August 28 for medical examinations.

Nirmala’s parents as well as the Mahendranagar residents have been claiming that Bista, who suffers from mental illness, is incapable of committing such crime.

Protests over Nirmala’s death had escalated in Kanchanpur in the wake of Bista’s arrest. The protesters accused police administration of framing an innocent man to protect the real culprits. On August 24, police opened fire at a rally in Mahendranagar, killing a teenage boy and injuring several others.

As violence escalated in Kanchanpur, with police unable to make progress in their investigation, the government suspended the district police chief, SP Dilli Ram Bista, and recalled Chief District Officer Kumar Bahadur Khadka.

A new investigation team has been formed to look into the case, but it, too, has failed to achieve the desired progress in the case.

The National Human Rights Commission and a high-level committee of the Home Ministry have said that the case has become complicated as a result of police mishandling the preliminary investigation process and possibly destroying evidences.

486 girls, women raped in Province 1

SUNSARI: At least 486 girls and women were raped in Province 1 in the last fiscal year. Spokesperson of the Province 1 Police Office Abhusan Timsina said 486 girls and women, between the ages of 6 to 45, were raped in the last fiscal year.

According to the police statistics, 80 teenagers and women were raped in the province from mid-July till  August end. Police said 214 suspected rapists are at large.